Lemon and Honey

I read in my 1801 Home Remedies produced my Readers' Digest that lemon juice mixed with honey and cayenne powder is very effective for loss of voice.

I bought lemons last Sunday afternoon and prepared lemon drink with honey as my water for the last three days and there my voice has totally recovered. I was not able to put cayenne powder since I was so lazy to go to the store.

I used three lemons with ten tablespoon of honey mixed with one and a half liter of water. Then every time I would pour on a glass to drink I add 1/4 hot water. It's really effective. I am ready for choir practice again this Saturday.

Praise the Lord! Maybe the lesson here was really God wanted me to sing with my heart to honor and worship Him... :D

Seated Together

I was so happy seeing more and more groups from the joint camp to be seated together as a group during worship service. The essence of community has started to emerge among our young people. Praise God that all the work has paid off for some of our groups. Still other groups I believe will catch up soon.

The cell group seating together as a group is an opportunity for the cell group members to be together besides cell group meeting. It creates a special bond because worshipping together as a body is establishing a connection with God as a group thereby establishing connection with each other through the Spirit. Second, it also creates an opportunity to actively invite other young people to join their group. Third, the collective idea of seating together builds up the confidence of group members in talking with individuals (whom they wanted to invite to their cell group) as a group rather than just one person inviting another which connotes some strangeness on both parties.

SEAT WITH YOUR CELL GROUP DURING WORSHIP SERVICE!

Singing From the Heart

Today is Easter Sunday celebration. The choir has been practicing for months for this celebration with several parts from Handels Messiah. I really enjoyed and very excited for this event since it will be my first time to sing the classical masterpiece.

It was the day after the camp, and because I was too excited and passionate in preaching to our youth that I lossed my voice. Totally, lost it. I do not know what to do. But I was not disappointed, I wore my choir gown and went with the choir singing the pieces using my heart. Of course, I added movements of my mouth - hehehe.

Singing and worshipping God should really come from the heart. The Bible teaches, "Worship the Lord, in spirit and in truth." I sang my heart out during the celebration... praising God for His love endures forever.

Gospel Fever! Yeh Yeh Yeh

The joint camp was an incredible experience of God's grace and faithfulness. God unfolds His will to the staff as the day goes by. It was incredible to be hearing Him one step at a time. Things went well for the staff but He made it even better with the fresh ideas that kept popping out in our times of worship during the camp. The changes even made the whole activity even better.

We were able to hit our target bonding our youth in groups and many were fired by for evangelism work. The chemistry of the whole camp was indeed close to perfect.

Gospel Fever!

We bring our lives to the temple
Bending our will to His call
Following Jesus’ example
Willingly giving our all.

Daily we gather to worship
Praying, we let Him begin
Filling our hearts with His Spirit
We catch the Fever from Him.

Gospel Fever!
People sharing Hearts on fire!
People loving, Jesus’ power!
Living, breathing Lives affecting, world transforming

Gospel Fever!
Good news spreading, Hearts on fire!
People serving Jesus’ power!
Living, breathing Lives affecting, church exploding

Many are they who still hunger
Seeking and losing their way
We fill the world with His wonder
We are His blessing today.

Finding God’s favor in Jesus
We can confront our sin
Sharing the good news with boldness
We burn with Fever for Him!

PASSED!

I praise God for this wonderful opportunity to study. Today, after all the hardwork for the past months, it all paid off as my dissertation panel has accepted my dissertation on "A Framework of Governance for the Schools of the United Evangelical Churches in the Philippines."

It has been a taxing month going through the analysis and writing of the paper, and all is well. Prasie the Lord! I truly rejoice...

 And now, off to camp...

God's Timing is Best

I have been very busy for the preparation of the Joint Youth Camp in church. On top of this was my dissertation writing. Well, I was praying and hoping to defend after camp. But my plans were not God's plan. As I submit my paper to my adviser today, I was immediately asked to reproduce six copies and defend next week. This is a day before the joint camp.

I was in a hurry to make copies and the schedule was really finalized to be March 18. I believe God is teaching me a lesson that He know when is best. Defending before the camp, frees me from my concern about my dissertation at the same time help me focused in giving counsel to the camp staff. 

Praise the Lord! He is indeed good!

Wonderful Friend

I have been very busy doing my dissertation for the past weeks and I received an important boost from a very efficient and wonderful friend Aileen. She helped me edit my grammar and make sure my sentences are understandable by readers, and also my paper should contain smooth transitions from one topic to another.

This was a very big help since editing my own grammar in more than 200 pages will give me a bigger headache. I really felt it was God sent, when I ask her the favor of editing my paper... which she happily agreed. There was even a time when we were communicating through YM as she edits part of my dissertation very late at night. This crucial help from A, helped me finish my paper one week advance compared to my original schedule.

She really deserves to be praised. I thank God for sending AA, and AA thanks for your help; you are really wonderful.

Submitted Today

At last, it is finished. So many months, the labor in writing my dissertation has finally come to an end.

This dissertation writing is not really easy. For the last two weeks, I am having back pains. I went for SPA but it lasted only two day and the aches are back. What's worse is this headache that is going on daily for the last two weeks, and no pain reliever has stopped it. I think my eye incurred problems with the long hours of thinking and typing in front of the computer, which is causing my headache. 

Today, I submitted my final printed dissertation paper to my adviser for his approval. I pray that God will help me get my adviser's nod for defense. If this is so, all is well and done; better get ready for the defense. If not, better get back to the drawing board and hope to finish this March.

We All Passed Compre

I praise God for He is wonderful and faithful as He continue to prepare me for His ministry. We just received news that we all passed our comprehensive exam. All the years work really paid off and I believe has helped to be a thinker through the process.

Next dissertation...